From the Philippine Daily Inquirer Editorial : Tarnishing the gold
First posted 01:08am (Mla time) Dec 03, 2005

Note: This article was published on Page A14 of the December 3, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

PRIME Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand made waves by complaining about cheating in the Southeast Asian Games. Although he did not specifically mention the Philippines, Thaksin said he was "concerned" that the obsession with winning was getting in the way of sportsmanship.

He had nobody fooled; he was obviously reacting to a remark attributed to the head of the Thai Olympic Committee who complained that it was impossible for countries like Thailand to win in the Manila Games because Filipinos were manipulating the result. A storm of protest ensued, and with it, counter-accusations about the lack of sportsmanship (and allegations of dubious decisions by judges in sports events) of the Thais. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was stung into ordering an "investigation," Filipino officials defended our teams and the country was seemingly united,
for once, in condemnation of the Thais.

In the end, Charouk Arirachakaran, secretary general of Thailand's Olympic Committee, issued an apology, while insisting that he never said "it is hard to win at the Games since the hosts are cheating." The quote supposedly came from statements he made to the press in Bacolod City, but the Thai sports official insists it was impossible for him to have said that, because he has yet to go there (which leaves dangling the question of how the Associated Press got the quote). Thaksin apparently simply took his cue from the press reports and without bothering to talk to Thai sports officials went ahead to slam the Philippines because that was the patriotic thing to do. It is not just Filipinos, after all, who excuse failure by pinning the blame on outsiders. Other Asians do it, too.

Obviously the lesson here is not that Filipinos per se are viewed as cheats, or that Asians are congenitally predisposed to viewing every defeat as the result of someone's having cheated (regardless of the location), but rather that the Thai prime minister could assume that everyone would view it as understandable that Philippine sports officials could be charged with cheating with impunity, because-well, simply look at their President, was what the Thai prime minister was really suggesting.

Therein lies the scandal and there lies the offensiveness of the Thai leader's remarks. That is not the Asian way, or the Asean way, and most certainly, it is not the diplomatic and responsible way to handle anything, including sports.

Indeed in the heat of the moment, when the competition is at its most intense, sportsmanship can end up by the wayside. That is what judges and the rules are for. If victory is sweet, defeat, though bittersweet, can be ennobling. An example is the case of Eduardo Buenavista, disqualified for running into the path of a competitor in the 5,000-meter race. Having been stripped of his medal, his reaction was magnificent: "That's the way it was, I ended up hitting him, after all. Well, I'll just go back to training, so that next time, I can reclaim the prize." No whining, blaming-just pure sportsmanship.

Thaksin should have kept to his "self-imposed" isolation from the media and left politics out of the Southeast Asian Games. Instead, he has made himself the Raul Gonzalez of Thailand. Left to themselves, the participants and officials have handled controversies and questions concerning the games with professionalism and integrity. The host country has deprived its athletes of medals, when the rules have been broken. And even the controversial Thai sports official, it must be added, didn't let a lot of time pass, before clarifying matters and apologizing for hurting the feelings of Filipinos.

This isn't to say that Philippine sports doesn't have its defects. Thaksin did have a point in saying the obsession with victory has diverted attention from what is the true purpose of international sports events: to promote clean and civilized competition; to promote international goodwill; to channel patriotism in a direction that exalts individual countries but also contributes to ties of affection between the citizens of those countries.